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This is a little late but have you done tried a firmware reload. The Shake Reduction is made up of magnets, sensors, microprocessors, of those only the microprocessors can cause what your camera is doing I think. I would suspect low voltage as well. But, I would think its very fixable and probably something minor. But getting another used camera is your best bet besides reloading the firmware. Try turning off Shake Reduction? I know it moves to its home position even turned off, but maybe.

I am normal, I shoot a Pentax or two with a bunch of lens. When serious (deep pocket) photographers see my gear they scratch their heads and ask, Pentax, Pentax is still selling cameras? All while holding their huge white camera and lens. This does make me feel not normal. And yes it really happens all the time.

But since I know we all (on this site) use Pentax cameras, I come here to feel normal.

The good thing going for you is the K-5 has a back panel made of Polycarbonate. Really I don't mind bodies that are all Polycarbonate and WR. So my thinking is it made it in the top and dripped down to the controls. Who knows, but we know it made it in. The top is Metal however, but being a top the water may have dripped down. My bet is you will be fine.

Sent in my K-5 Jan 2016 just a few weeks before the extended warranty ended. I also did the same some years ago for my K20D. The K20D did need service however during the extra two years.

Buying the extended warranty was a no brainer. At the higher price, think about it, then do it if you can. dSLRs are precision instruments. Don't fool yourself. They do fall out of spec. My K20D autofocus was off. Here is what Precision Camera did for my K-5. The camera gets hooked up to a very special computer than can perform all kinds of adjustments through the firmware AFAIK. I could tell they did clean it as the view finder was really clear, they cleaned the focus screen and sensor and exterior! Even though the warranty is more now its still worth it. You get an extra two years of warranty (USA) and at the end send in your dSLR and get it back knowing its as good as the first day you bought it. You have to have some trust. ;)

As the OP I want to say don't try this. Its not worth the risk of cosmetic or even worse damage. I have learned a lot over the years here. Thanks to all. I know dust is only an issue if its on your sensor. Otherwise forget about it. Also as you mature in this hobby you truly do forget about dust. Even if I see it I don't care.

Glad I found this . First those are really good pics. Don't know the lens. But I would guess its the K20D, my fav camera. My fav dSLR.

I had the Samsung GX10 (same as Pentax K10D), then the Pentax K20D with grip. It never failed to take a pic. Its going on 60,000 shutter counts. And I don't worry it may break. I tracked the forums very close and without doubt the K20D was Pentax most reliable dSLR starting from the K10D days. The K200D is a close second.

When I bought the K-5, I would only do it when I had the funds without selling the K20D. The K20D is a life time keeper. Like my first digital the Kodak DC5000 that is still weather sealed and takes 2mp pics some 15 years latter, I will keep my K20D as long as it works. And its done its tour of duty. Its earned a permanent home in my house.

It did BIF, it did everything, I had no AF, or performance problems. It was a jack of all trades, a superb photographic tool.

If it comes down to it you can remove and replace the LCD panel. If in your head right now you don't know what size screw driver to use, don't do it. If you do and you are a do it yourself/try type of person. Here is a link to many Pentax models. Pentax keeps the same basic design through the years; different but same concept. I don't know if you can just unplug your LCD. Do you know how to work with what looks like just plug in pull out connections? Because many don't work that way?

If yes here are a bunch of manuals. Look for the password in the files.

Oh yea Pentax bodies really are tough. I know from experience. If you dropped your K-01 that's even better, it is probably stronger because it has few moving parts. It lacks the very prices alignments of mirror to AF module to EV module. In other words there is little to damage in that body. I would not worry at all. If its OK, its OK!

Not to say the mirrored bodied dSLR are not tough as well, they are very tough. A dSLR is a complex sort of expensive precision tool. It can be broken. But it all depends on the lens, and you know just so many factors. Have fun with your camera which ever it is! Forget about the fall.

It is unusual as the camera is fairly new to me. Age 'alone' has little to do with electronics when we are talking less than five or seven years. Moving parts, maybe. Like if oil and grease were missing and or dirty. None of this applies to your shutter however, at least not much of it. With the camera being used we don't know what may have occurred in the past with your K-7.

During a talk I had with Pentax USA top service/tech person. Pentax had found K20D cameras going to ~170,000 clicks before the shutter giving out on some not all K20D. But 100,000 is assured by Pentax. Really the most important thing to watch for is not the shutter breaking but losing accurate timing.

Long story short. Its rare for a Pentax dSLR as new as yours and with as many shutter counts as yours to need a shutter replacement. Shutters do give out, but not often. My K20D has almost 60,000 shutter clicks and shows no signs of wear. I have a K-5 but kept the K20D as it was my fav, and most reliable camera. My K-5 is too new (maybe 18 months) and with only 15000 shutter counts I have no worries about the shutter.

Now with a new shutter and almost assuredly a full check-up and cleaning your good to go. Just enjoy now.

Yep the Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 is superbly sharp. Sigma still sells if for a reason. Its a EX lens and has served me well for six years. I guess I got lucky not trying to be sarcastic. I bought it at my local shop which gave 10 day period to return. There is no way that lens was going back. Built tough, superb optics, Sigma does not neglect any distortion or aberration in their designs. Yep I am in that fan club.

To be frank. If money where no object and I wanted a UWA APS-C zoom lens it would be the Sigma 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6 DC or Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 DC EX. Really!

You won't be sorry with the Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX lens. Some reviews, really most regard it highly. And the PopPhoto review picked the Sigma because for the money, just get it at its current price a Sigma EX lens! Its a no brainer if funds are limited as in the case with most of us.

Only the K20D and K-7 used Samsung APS sensors. Samsung provided memory chips and various unknown other parts, but for sure not sensors through the whole range. When the K20D came out it had the highest mega-pixel count of any APS sensor. It also performed well at higher ISO (for its day).

I went through this years ago with a Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5 macro. It was softer on one side of the frame versus the other at 17mm f/2.8. That was with my K10D (really Samsung GX10). Sigma got tired of me sending them the lens and asked for my camera I sent it. They took two pics that show slight softness with my GX10 but not with their K10D. But I was not convinced you see all my other two or three lens were fine. How can my body AF need tuning if my other lens are great! Long story short -

I was very wrong. I still have that lens and its great. Its my go to when I am serious shooting, people, landscape, walk around and it fills that role with tack sharp pics even good pics at 17mm f/2.8.

I realize your making a 50% jump in resolution but DXO does not show a drop in the corners with the old Sigma lens. As it was one of the sharpest of the series.

I strongly recommend auto-focus be checked on your K-3 with the Sigma and one other lens. If you want to send your lens to Sigma up to you. But do have Pentax check the body! Then from there you will know what is going on and can make the next move without guessing.

Pentax does not implicitly or explicitly state the cameras lens mount cover is weather resistant. Only Pentax WR lens are stated to be able to be used in wet weather.

To use the cap for some type of test is going into the un-known and taking a very high risk. I highly recommend not to try. If you have no WR lens and just want to try your Pentax WR body in a rain; you can use plastic bags to cover the lens and especially the mount area. Make sure no water touches the lens to body connection. I did this on a trip to Niagara Falls with a K10D (really Samsung GX10) and kit lens. I would not risk my other lens.

I bought a lens hood from eBay for my DA35mm AL f/2.4 (49mm threads as well). It was a knock off of the Pentax rectangle type hood with clips that snap it on. One little bump and I mean little, knocked out one of the clips. I was disappointed to say the least as it was broken, a lens hood break! This happened just weeks ago.

I looked around and found metal lens hood at half the price of the plastic one, that screws right into the lens. The hood also has threads up front. I bought it and am so happy. There is no way this thing is going to break. Its solid metal. It screws onto the lens. The DA50-200mm WR has a 2" long round telephoto lens hood. No tulips, a slight expanding taper going to the front and a special door on the bottom you can take out to turn CPL filters. The bottom door is a feature most don't use on a telephoto. For the money its hard to beat metal that screws into your lens? Your situation is perfect for one (no tulips).

I have owned many lens hoods, from eBay no brand plastic, metal, Promaster tulip types, and OE equipment. OE is always the best. That is the real Pentax hood is made of strong plastic and designed just for that lens. The next best is Metal screw in lens hoods. They come in normal and telephoto lengths. Promaster also makes decent quality lens hood. Never broke one. Not sure if they make one for a telephoto. A telephoto lens hood does not have tulips type design up front, its just round.

The tool in your link looks very much like the tool Pentax gives in the Focus Screen Replacement Kits. I just want readers to be aware that when you buy the new screen (Pentax Brand) you get a case to hold the old and new screens, that won't scratch the screen when placed in one of its two spots, and a Pentax tool to hold the tab of the focus screen.

If your going to just clean the focus screen and plan on keeping the camera for a few years or more for the price you may want to just buy the whole new screen and have a back-up screen just in case. Why do I have so many? Well, I like to have back-ups:fedup: . I can't think of any reason to have the tool that is linked to and the Pentax tool? Only if you buy the one in the link first to remove your screen for cleaning.

you know I have been shooting Pentax for over six years. On top of it I am ........ when it comes to any speck on my screen. Some can live with tons of stuff, some can't stand just one hair. I have a dry brush to clean them and wet swabs. But from time to time I may make a mistake and scratch them. Trust me its a very real threat. Do it at your own risk. If you can live with it, you will save yourself a lot of money. Even with the tool or tons of tools there is a decent chance of scratching the screen, how? You use the other end of the tool to pull on the latch to let the focus screen come out. Sometimes it does not come out and just hangs there. Well things can go wrong from there and other situations.

Was it worth it for me. Yep every penny and I am proud and glad I have never had to use a focus screen with one speck of dust in it for years ;). To those who can that sounds .......... I know.

EDIT: BTW I included the tweezers for a reason. To show how secure the proper tool holds the screen and kind of give you an idea of how clumsy it would be with tweezers. I only use them in an emergency. Thanks to Oldbayrunner for pointing out my inclusion of the tweezers in the pic that leaves viewers to guess what, why. You should avoid them. The Focus Screen should ONLY be handled with its tab and proper tool. If I took those tweezers and just grabbed the side of the screen there would be one more box in the pic.

I am not saying there is a problem overall. But is so I hope Pentax learned from SDM and what happened to Nikon.

If Pentax finds the problem then Pentax has to be compelled to re-call the units effected. Pentax lost a lot of business with SDM IMO from what I could see on forums activities. And Nikon took a hit and a big hit from China. Its not a minor problem when someone pays a good bit of money for a product and it behaves in a way that it should not. In warranty or not! Customers are number one, customer service in every country.

I have not made an IMO of the issue yet. I bought my K-5 just over one year ago and still have my K20D sitting on a shelf. I have time to see what happens. I won't be a beta tester. And to be fair Ricoh is not Hoya.

I have never had a solid speck of dust in my OVF for one day since buying the gear to clean it, you know that black little blob. Its really small but I don't like it. So away it goes. The most I will live with is a tiny hard to see semi-transparent spot. Those usually go away with time. But...

I am the same way. I use a full kit from Visable Dust, spinning mirror/focus screen brush for the screen of the K-5. I can also wet swab if need be. I have needed less and less maintenance with each generation of Pentax bodies I have owned. My first K10D (really Samsung GX10) focus screen had to be cleaned almost weekly, the sensor monthly it seemed. The K20D improved upon this. Now the K-5 has really improved upon this. I don't think I have wet cleaned it in one year and over 12,000 pics. I think I have only cleaned the focus screened a few (two for sure) times. Don't know how Pentax can make a focus screen needing less cleaning, but IMO they did!

Glad all went well. That Canon looks complicated and expensive. Lensrental does tear downs of lens now and then. The owner does it for fun and other reasons he can think of :) . My type of guy! Looking at the Canon and thinking about Pentax DA* lens and how they are much better built than the WR kit lens its easy to understand why they are rated for higher protection against foreign substance. Tolerance!

Have to look at the positives to feel a tad better. The extended barrel saved your K-3 from any damage. First the filter took a lot of the hit and bent, like a car bumper absorbing energy (a good bit!), then the barrel hit the ground as well and bent up and cracked because I think the DA* have a lot of metal like the main zoom housing. That took just about all the energy from the fall away from parts further down the line. You seem to know how there are a lot of simple large parts in a zoom; but there are small cam rollers... but all can be changed. You probably only need a new barrel and maybe a new front group if its damaged in any way. You may need a few small parts (not expensive) as well. I would for sure send it in for a quote. You may be very surprised.

Anyway you look at it, I see a strongly built lens that took the blow and saved your camera. Could you imagine if your K-3 broke as well! I would feel half bad and half good that I did not break everything. I broke the front element of my Sigma 17-70mm once. C.R.I.S did a fantastic job and made my lens like new. They ordered a new front lens group form Sigma, trim ring and other parts to make it like new again for $200. Still solid and takes tack sharp pics. I can't speak high enough about C.R.I.S. BTW C.R.I.S is Pentax only camera repair center in the USA. That's where your camera goes when you send it to Pentax.

And to give you an idea of how many parts are in a zoom lens here is a tear down of the small kit lens - DA18-55mm WR I did for fun. You can see the many plastic parts. But don't let that fool you its strong stuff! Moreover you can see even in a small simple zoom most parts can be changed no problem. The optics are changeable from the factory in groups then its calibrated. However you may simple need only the zoom barrel. Send it in and let us know. Good Luck. Don't feel bad.

I agree you may only need that tube, no lens elements, that strong outer housing for the barrel and plastic tube took the full hit.

Have not read the other replies (started to) so I can give my true feelings...

I was in the same boat. I stopped enjoying the hobby for reasons not fully known to me. I could step back and see how I was truly a fanboy. I laughed at how serious people took a little noise at ISO1600 versus another brand. I could see sites such as DPR wanting conflict over gear or gear lust to keep us deeply interested and open are wallets. I could see it for what it was.

I slowly re-started my passion for the PC. Being a few years short of 50 I grew up with the PC and the Internet an amazing dream come to life. I was into PCs at age 13. Bought my first PC the Commodore Vic 20, then Commodore 64 at 14. I really enjoy the PC, building them, researching the best parts for my budget. It could take me a month to find the best video card! I would buy one, read how another for just $20 more was twice as fast and return my card and get that one. I live near a huge PC (MIcrocenter) store that allows returns of CPUs, RAM, anything. I would benchmark my PC for fun. Look up Cooler Masters Sniper Black Edition Case. This is the case I use. I am not a gamer at all. That should tell all. I am a PC nut.

Second, but first. My first hobby was Hi-Fi. I really enjoyed it as much as Photography if not more when young. I read all the magazines (no internet). Music could/does get me high or that rush, the rush, get up and dance with that huge surge of energy going through you. I slowly built up a system that peaked with the Definitive Technologies BP10 mains, PF18TL sub (18" flat to 20Hz at house shaking volume), surrounds. I really hit a peak. The system had no limit with volume and could play flat to near 20Hz. It did have a limit of course but it was truly insane and I listened loud all the time but this system could play louder than a sane or insane person could listened to. This system exceeded anything I could ask for in quality of sound, deep bass, volume/dynamics it had it all. It would cost thousands of dollars to improve its dynamics and bass. I slowly lost my passion for Hi-Fi after about 2000, especially since surround sound, its been gong backwards with small systems IMHO. I then started my PC passion again.

Seven or 8 years ago I fell head first into photography with the purchase of the 6Mp Kodak Z612. It was replacing my old 2Mp Kodak DC5000 as a tool to work with my PC. I was stunned at the quality of the photos. I bought and sold a lot of cameras in one year. I have three or four camera bags full of accessories. Photography was my new deep passion.

Like I said I kinda lost my deep interest for pic taking a couple years ago. I never lost my interest in photo gear, however. But going out to explore pics that did not happen much, I lost a lot of drive. I met an older Photographer, a client at his house. He was well over 70 and still sharp as a tack mentally. I noted he had many pics hung up in his living room and long hall. I could tell they were pictures from a camera and local scenes. He told me he is lifetime photographer. He shot medium format and showed me his MF camera. His daily camera was a Canon 40D. He had outstanding pics IMO. We talked for awhile and he explained to me you do fall out of photography now and then and also get more into the gear versus taking pics. Its all a normal process unless someone is paying you.

What got me back into photography was when I bought my K-5 about one year ago. I could not wait to get home from work to use it. But I still don't have that lust of going anywhere to get my photo fix. I feel like I took pics of everything I could and would be wasting my shutter on nothing. But I still take pics everyday. Just not as much. I have more responsibility at work and home now (someone is ill). But its all normal.

I received a call from Ricoh at my request to discuss this issue. Its been fully resolved to my satisfaction. From Pentax, Ricoh and C.R.I.S Camera Repair. C.R.I.S camera has been a first class business from the word go. Pentax under Ricoh is looking real good, very good :D I am happy. And no I did not receive anything materialistic. Just clarity; and a common ground with those guys above.

As I understand the conversation, Ricoh forgive me if I get small details wrong. Pentax dSLRs do remember the f/stop and shutter speed when turned off and back on. That is Ricohs official stance on the matter for Pentax dSLRs. Some caveats; when left without a battery for a bit of time, it may take time for it to begin remembering the f/stop and aperture. If you take the battery out the camera may not remember the f/stop or aperture for long or at all. I won't group all Pentax dSLRs into this. I will say from the K10D and newer models.

This is why when I first bought my K-5 it did not remember the f/stop and aperture, then started to. The camera needs time to store power to hold those two settings in memory. Those settings are not fixed like the settings in the custom menu. Or even the date and time which the camera will remember for a longer period of time with no battery (~two days).

So yes some users may see the settings go back to the defaults of f/8 and 1/125sec if the battery was taken out long enough. No your not seeing things or accidently changing the settings.

Now why did my K20D stop remembering those settings at all. Then started to after I bought the K-5, Well I don't know for sure. It remembers now and I am happy with Ricoh, Pentax, C.R.I.S. :)

Thank you Ricoh, Pentax, C.R.I.S for taking the time to speak with me.

Kind Regards
Jamesm007

*I feel this benefits the whole Pentax community that's why I am posting it here. Its relevant to this this thread.